Brisbane Regionals wrap up and interview with champion Lachlan Russell

This weekend saw Brisbane’s only Regional Championship take place at Fastbreak in Nunda, with 61 masters from around Australia. It was a very long day with 6 swiss rounds for a top cut of 8, with the event starting just after 10am, and top cut not finishing until 9:30pm. Blastoise and Darkrai were popular picks for the day, with sprinklings of Rayboar, Garbodor, Aromatisse, Yeti, Big Basics, Plasma, Yvetal and of course, a few quirky rogue decks.

With a fair few inter-state players, it was uplifting to see local Lachlan Russell take out first place, and great to know his thoughts about the day, his deck and his success.

Firstly, a huge congratulations for taking out Brisbane Regionals this weekend! I understand you were playing a variant of Yeti – were there any matchups you were particularly worried about? Did you have any weird additions/techs in your deck? Who would you say was your ‘most valuable player’ in your deck? (could be any card – Pokemon, Trainers etc)

I was pretty worried about the match up against Blastoise and Rayboar. I teched in a copy of Palkia EX the day before, which I had not tested nor seen anyone using in a list similar to mine. In my fourth match up, I came across Blastiose and was very happy that I had included Palkia. Other techs included Virizion EX and the supporter Cassius. These were mainly for the Trees match-up, which I didn’t come across, and for those pesky lasers. As for a MVP it would be hard to say – every card had its positives going into each match-up, however I feel Lugia and Thundurus did the most work on the day. Also, I always run 4 Deoxys, as Lugia can hit magic numbers with 4 if need be.

Many people will be wondering – why Cassius?

You play a funny tech and everyone loses their minds. Well say I had Lugia ready to go with muscle band, 3 Deoxys, a Thundurus and Genesect on bench and a Deoxys and Cassius in hand facing down a Darkrai. (I’m pretty sure this actually happened). You either hit it for 170 and cry, or you can win the game. Also I found that without Scramble Switch it was hard to get plasma energy off Genesect where they were worthless. It put them back into the deck where I could Colress Machine for them.

Do you attribute your higher counts of Pokemon to only running 4 Pokemon search cards?

I was always able to draw into the Pokemon I needed. Computer Search backed up as another search card and Shadow Triad could get back the Plasma Balls. I may consider more in future as I did have some trouble in some games.

Going into the tournament, how did you feel you’d end up? Were you confident in your deck choice? Why/Why not?

I thought I had a pretty decent chance of placing highly seeing as I placed Top 8 with roughly the same deck at Brisbane Cities. I was hoping for at least another Top 8 spot, but I wasn’t going to be hugely disappointed if I didn’t. I have been playing the deck since the first 2014 Brisbane Cities, changing and refining the list after each event, with new knowledge of match ups. With all of my decisions on techs I was feeling pretty good about almost every match-up.

How did you feel going into the final match again Brendan Vagg? Was there a standout moment in your finals game?

Nervous, excited, very tired, and quietly confident as I knew he was playing a Blastoise deck. There were no big stand-out moments in the game. Unfortunately for him, Brendan’s deck drew dead in both games and I was able to close out the game 2/0 with no big problems.

Do you think you’ll continue playing Yeti when the Flash Fire set comes out? Are there any standout cards you’ll be looking to use? Predictions for what decks will be popular or pushed out next set?

I hope to keep playing it as it has been good for me and I have fun playing it. There are a few cards that have caught my eye, namely Druddigon, and as Anthony Smith said “a dragon type revenger has been needed for a long time.” This will be an amazing card for the Blastoise and Rayboar match-up, however I’m not sure it deserves the spot over Palkia, so it will probably see some testing. Surprise Megaphone will replace Tool Scrapper, as I have no need to discard my own tools and well, so why not discard all of their tools rather than just two.

As for what decks will become popular/less popular, I think the threat of the easily techable Druddigon may scare some players away from Blastoise, but as long as Tropical Beach is still in rotation I think we will always be seeing it. The Pyroar frightens me a little bit in regards to using Yeti as I do not play any stage 2 cards, however I think it will only be a rogue deck which may pop up from time to time.

Where to now? Do you see yourself making the trip to other Regionals or Nationals to reach the 300CP mark? If you have enough points, will you be heading to Worlds in Washington in August?

Being a Top 8 Cities place holder, and a Regionals Champion I am now sitting on 170CP. I don’t think I’ll be making the trips to other Regionals, however I’ll most likely head down for Nationals. If I do end up with 300CP unfortunately I don’t see myself heading to Worlds. I’d really love to, but funding would be an issue.

The next Regionals Championship event in Australia will be in Canberra on April 6th.

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